I am new to this site, so I don’t know if this is the right place for this, but…don’t people realize that when you e-mail or phone a complaint into a restaurant about something you think your server did/did not do, that it potentially damages/eliminates their job ? try to be a little more tolerant, we are servers, not perfect, we all make mistakes…just because you are having a bad day or didn’t get your ranch in 10 seconds, doesnt mean you take away someone’s living …
Unless they’re lying when they call in, what is the problem? Your boss wants the restaurant to continue operating and to do so he would like repeat customers so customers relaying their complaints instead of just not coming back seems more effective. I doubt servers get fired over a single complaint so if there are many perhaps the solution lies, not in shutting up the customers, but in improving the service you are being paid to provide.
Welcome to the SDMB, dollface66. Despite the name “Cafe Society,” this forum isn’t about restaurants, but the arts.
I’ll move this thread to our forum for sharing opinions, IMHO.
Again, welcome.
twickster, Cafe Society moderator
If people don’t point out what you are doing wrong, it’s doubtful that you will know how and what you need to improve on.
As said above most people aren’t going to get fired over one mistake or probably not even two. But if you are not willing to improve your performance, I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that would like the opportunity to do your job better than you are.
In my experience, most folks aren’t going to complain about a server unless that server does more than just a simple one-time screw up. The server may think that they aren’t being rude, aren’t doing anything wrong, and may blame it on the customer instead of realizing that they are at fault. In that case, the server may indeed deserve to lose their job.
That said, sometimes servers do get the blame for what is really a management problem. I’m not going to complain if my ranch is 10 seconds late, but if everything is late and cold and disorganized I would. I have no way of knowing if everything is screwed up because the server isn’t doing their job properly, or if everything is screwed up because the manager is a cheap bastard and doesn’t have enough people working so he can save on payroll expenses. All that matters to me is that the service that I paid for was not acceptable. My only option is to complain.
I complained once about a waiter who was absolutely perfect for the entire meal and then disappeared when we wanted our check. It was late, we wanted to leave, and he was fucking gone for over 20 minutes. Then we’d see him darting around other parts of the restaurant doing other things, but avoiding us like the plague. At the end of that night, I would have fired him myself if I had the chance.
I used to work retail, and I know how hard it can be dealing with the public. Because of that, I have a pretty low bar for good service. Basically, bring me the right food, don’t spill anything on me, and don’t be overtly unpleasant, and I’ll be satisfied.
All three of those rules were broken in a single visit to a restaurant not too long ago. Honestly, if the server had apologized even once, I would have let it go. Believe me, I know that accidents happen. But he couldn’t even wait until he’d turned his back on me to roll his eyes at my objection to his spilling a glass of water all over me.
That’s the first time I’ve ever complained to management about service, and I don’t feel bad about it. As Omar Little said, if that was his first customer complaint, he’ll probably just get reprimanded or have a note in his file or something. But if it’s a regular occurrence, then he clearly doesn’t give a crap about his job, and the restaurant should have the chance to find someone who does.
Yes. That’s why we do it.
If you’re bad enough that I have to go to the trouble of complaining about you, I don’t want to put up with you again.
Hopefully management has a good handle on if the customer is a pain in the ass who wouldn’t be satisfied with a perfect server, or if the server is incompetent and just racking up the complaints until it’s clear that this is not the job for them. If I’m the fifth person to complain about you this shift, you’re damaging your own job, not me.
Yeah, my managers* were pretty good about sorting out the genuine complaints from the “customer is always right” assholes, and they listened to your side of the story (if there was one) before filing the complaint.
*I acknowledge that not everyone is working for these kinds of managers, unfortunately.
Yep - if you’re so brutal at your job that I actually take the trouble of calling back after the fact, you should probably be fired. For everyone’s benefit - it can’t be great working at a job that you totally suck at, and I imagine for a server, not very lucrative either.
I actually went out of my way to compliment a server at a Red Robin since he needed to be specifically signaled out, because the 25% tip I gave would have just been split up among the rest of the waitstaff without the recognition he deserved.
Having been both a bartender and server, I agree that by the time several customers complain about a single server, it is probably time to go. OTOH when alcohol is involved a whole new set of rules apply, what customers remember the next day is often convenient for them to say the least. Fortunately for me I mostly had excellent managers and owners( excepting the pedophile). I have known servers to be fired on the spot for a ridiculous and petty complaint.
Capt
Don’t servers know customers are paying to be served, and expect competency and efficiency? We also know servers aren’t volunteers. We know the establishment is paying them to do a job, and when they don’t do it, I let the management of the establishment know they are paying their ‘server’ for nothing, and usually with a phone call.
P.S. Tipping is a nasty habit and I wish it was outlawed.
Yup. If I’m annoyed enough to call back afterwards, I’m probably considering not returning there, and your boss should probably know why s/he’s losing customers.
I’ll be more likely to return if I hear you’ve gone (rude waiter at the White Cockade near Elie, this means you!).
Then, um, they’re getting paid $2.25 an hour to service, so why would you be a priority?
I don’t like tipping either, but the way you said it makes it sound like you actually don’t do it.
Somebody on my Facebook who is a distant childhood friend posted a rant about how her waitress never asked her if she wanted another drink, and “that bitch is not about to get a tip from me!”
After careful probing, she revealed that she had ordered a cocktail, and rather than ask for another, she set the empty glass down at the edge of the table and waited for the waitress to ask her if she’d like another. When the waitress failed to do so, this woman refused to ask for the drink outright because “it’s the waitress’s job to ask ME!”
She did ask the waitress for extra croutons and then counted the croutons, saying that “five extra croutons was OBVIOUSLY NOT ENOUGH for my three kids!!!”
It’s people like this that make waiting tables a living nightmare, and also why I pray I never ever ever have to do it ever again. Bizarrely passive aggressive behavior for absolutely no real reason.
No, I do it. But only where I’m a regular. Bob Evans 90 miles from the house where I’m not likely to return? No, I don’t do it. Fancy bar or eatery 90 miles from the house where I’m not likely to return? I give the minimum.
Everytime the tipping argument is mentioned, the pro-tippers always act like the anti-tippers want to take away their tips and keep them at $2.25 an hour. We’re for taking away their tips and giving them at least minimum wage, which is still too low for anyone but a high schooler to live on.
I was talking to a waitress about this, and I asked if she had trouble with her employer’s willingness to make up the difference between $2.25 + tips to get to minimum wage on slow days. She said she had no trouble, but her employer divided her tips plus $2.25 per hour by her hours to make sure it came out to minimum wage for the whole week, not just one hour or one shift. She could have a killer Saturday and make $200 in one night, but have a Monday where she essentially worked for free because it was so slow, and the averaging killed her. What’s so fair about the tipping system now? Waitstaff that only work weekends (schoolkids?) won’t work as hard as an adult that works throughout the week, or gets elbowed out to let the schoolkid work the best hours. Evenings, weekends.